Without an Audience
by TheCircuitMan
Summary: TORI/OC ONE-SHOT: Tori ends up going to college in a town perhaps named after a train station...in any event, it's far away from the usual gang. She makes a fast friend—but will it be more? (Rated T for a few profanities and some steam.)


**Author's note:** _Yes, I'm (kinda-sorta) back from hiatus, and with a handle change to boot! I'm slowly getting back into the writing groove while balancing my new, bourgeoning career as a broadcast television engineer, so it'll be a while yet before y'all see another chapter of _A 'Pearing' Made In Heaven_. In any event, I've had this Tori/OC pairing kicking around the ol' hard disk for long enough, so I figure it's time to give it a spit-shine and fifteen minutes of fame. Enjoy!_

* * *

Nicholas Daniels couldn't shake the feeling that he had made a mistake in enrolling in this class. Effectively an 'introduction to acting' class that would satisfy one of his last degree requirements to graduate, his misgivings about the course—and by extension, its rather unsettling professor—came to a head when the first project was announced. Each group, randomly assigned by the professor, had been assigned a World War II-era play to re-interpret as they saw fit; the endgame being the portrayal of an essential part of the story in a ten-minute time frame. Nick's group was assigned the Tennessee Williams classic _The Glass Menagerie_, and like all the other groups, was given four weeks to rise to the challenge.

The only saving grace in this whole God-forsaken ordeal was one of his group members, a freshman by the name of Victoria Vega. Tori, as she insisted upon being called, caught Nick's eye early on, and had surprisingly sought him out during the first acting exercise in the class. Her bright, sunny smile had immediately endeared him to her, even after embarrassing himself during the 'mirror' exercise. That was the first time Nick had been touched at length by a woman, as the Latina had taken it upon herself to escort him to urgent care after he threw out his previously-injured back.

Tori had dipped low—her lithe, trim body allowing movements that Nick knew he shouldn't have matched—and his sizeable frame toppled over, the bespectacled man clutching at his back and barely holding back tears. She had allowed herself perhaps a second to gasp in horror before uncharacteristically jumping into action, barking orders to her classmates in a manner not dissimilar to a seasoned drill sergeant. Nick almost giggled through the pain at her rapid changes in demeanor between hard-driving and comforting; he found her handling of the situation rather endearing. The responding EMTs had thrown him a couple of sly grins during their triage, and Nick had a feeling that their decision to release him into Tori's care was calculated.

Throughout that day, Tori found out about his love of cars and racing, his exploits as a freelance audio mixer and general tech whiz, and his lonely life otherwise. Nick learned about her Californian upbringing, her acting and singing aspirations (he'd been enchanted by her singing along to the oldies station whilst driving), and how much she missed the group of friends she left back home.

She'd likened him to a cross between the tall, socially-awkward Robbie and the well-built tech genius Freddie, his six-foot-five frame towering over hers and making him a bit of a hassle to move—not that she minded a handful of his gently-toned muscles, of course. She had the sneaking suspicion that he didn't mind her touching him, especially after catching him shyly gazing at her more than a few times, the pair blushing almost every time.

Despite all the group work and their rigorous and differing class schedules—after all, Tori was a freshman and Nick didn't believe in coasting through senior year—the two quickly formed a close friendship. Their closeness would be redefined one Saturday evening just three weeks later.

§

A sudden cold snap, sending temperatures well into the thirties, made the regular Saturday night bar crawl for the drinking-age members of the group a lot less enticing. Tori, at Nick's provocation (he wouldn't have imbibed anyway), called a rehearsal at her place. A roomy two-bedroom apartment in a newly built complex, there would have been enough room for all the group members to pile in comfortably—but alas, the seven group members barely managed a quorum.

The group had ultimately decided to perform the second scene, in which Amanda Wingfield, a middle-aged Southern belle, took it upon herself to find a 'gentleman caller' for her daughter Laura, a cripplingly shy girl who had dropped out of high school and secretarial courses as a result. The group members had drawn straws for the parts, to where Tori (playing Laura) was paired up with Nick as Jim, the gentleman caller. Tom, Laura's brother, was played by a senior named Rafael, and Amanda was played by a junior named Ava. The missing group members were relegated to extra roles.

The scene where Jim sat down with Laura was their least-rehearsed part; they collectively decided to run through it given their personnel shortage. Nick's nerves didn't show…yet…as he got set to enter the scene. Tori took a tentative seat on her loveseat, while Ava assumed the role of narrator as Tori and Nick followed her lead.

"Laura sits up nervously as he enters," Ava read with a smoky aura. "Her speech at first is low and breathless from the almost intolerable strain of being alone with a stranger. It should be stressed that while the incident is unimportant it is, to Laura, the climax of her secret life."

Nick entered the scene with a slight limp, a lasting problem from the mirror incident. "Hello there, Laura," he greeted his paramour, a goblet of sparkling white grape juice in hand.

"Hello," greeted Tori in kind, clearing her throat as in the script.

Nick handed Tori the prop. "This is for you…a little d—dandelion wine." He stuttered as her fingers gently brushed his to take hold of the glass.

"Thank you," answered Tori as she took a nervous draw from the goblet. She swallowed her sip in one fell gulp, flashing a soft smile at her suitor.

"Drink it—but don't get drunk!" he needlessly reminded her as he circled the couch. "Where shall I sit?"

"Oh…anywhere is fine," she breathed before taking another small sip.

Nick's breath hitched before he remembered his next line. "How—how about here on the floor? I like to sit on the floor. How about you? Do you like to sit on the floor?" His nervousness made the lines come out in a frantic manner, oddly suiting the piece.

"Oh—yes," she stuttered out, not as genuinely as Nick's delivery, but convincing nonetheless.

"Why don't you, then?" he offered, patting the carpet to his right.

She lowered herself to his side. "I—will," she stumbled after she sat down.

A certain heat radiated through Tori's body as she adjusted to being so close to Nick. Despite the hugs they shared in the last couple weeks, and despite this being an acting exercise, she felt a heightened sense of intimacy between her and her unexpectedly close friend. The pair worked through their lines in a surprisingly genuine manner, the both of them feeling a certain _spark_ when his hand made unscripted contact with her shoulder, only to intensify when he rubbed gently. After breaking the unicorn prop, his trepidation became visible on his face.

"I'm glad to see that you have a sense of humor," he continued after a shaky breath. "You know, you're—well—very different! Surprisingly different from anyone else I know! Has anyone ever told you that you were pretty?"

Tori, following Laura's stage directions, looked into Nick's eyes with wonder and shook her head. She silently willed him to continue.

It took Nick a moment to gather some courage. "Well, you are!" he told Tori. "In a very different way from anyone else."

"In what respect am I pretty?" Tori asked, not quite in character anymore.

Nick took a composing breath. "In all respects—believe me! Your eyes—your hair are pretty!" He moved his hand from her shoulder to slowly run his fingers through her downy chestnut locks. "Your hands are pretty! Somebody needs to build your confidence up and make you proud instead of shy and turning away and…" he trailed off, suddenly drawing his hands to himself.

He looked at his lines partially to distract his group mates from his trepidation, but partially because his mind drew a blank. Blushing, he cleared his throat to continue. "Somebody oug—ought—ought to—kiss you, Laura!"

Veering off-script, Nick decided that now would be the best time for a restroom break. He leapt up and raced for the hills, leaving a shocked Tori, Rafael, and Ava in his wake.

Locked in the restroom, Nick cursed himself for not being able to go through with what was defined in the script. Turning on the cold tap, he took a small handful of water and splashed it on his face, letting the water mix with the perspiration on his forehead. He tried listening in on the conversation taking place in the living room, but the bathroom's noisy exhaust fan precluded any eavesdropping beyond tonal changes in the voices emanating from the living room.

"You think your boy-toy will be able to deliver the goods?" Ava asked, giggling slightly, putting a grin on Rafael's face and a blush on Tori's. "If not, we can re-cast him."

"No, no," Tori brushed off with a slight smile and an even bigger blush. "I'll talk to him; don't worry. I might need to do it alone, though."

Rafael piped in at Tori's comment. "It doesn't look like we'll make any more progress tonight anyway. Unless Ava thinks different, we probably oughta step out."

With a slightly later meeting date negotiated between the three group members not currently indisposed, Ava and Rafael stepped out into the cold night. As the door clicked shut, Tori let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. '_No better time than the present_,' she mused before padding over to the bathroom.

She lightly knocked thrice on the door. "Nick?" she called, her voice tinged with worry. "Are you okay in there, sweetie?"

Nick blushed at the pet name. "Yeah," he finally answered. "I'll be out in a moment. Can I talk to you once I'm out?"

"I think we need to," Tori answered with a smile on her face, despite being unseen. In that moment, she realized Nick was more like Robbie than she'd thought…painfully shy with women, perhaps even rejected more than a few times.

"At least he doesn't carry a God-awfully rude puppet around," she mumbled as she ambled to the kitchen to fill a couple of water cups. She didn't hear her lovestruck friend exit the restroom and walk up immediately behind her.

Turning around, she nearly dropped the full glasses, the Californian being startled by the tall Texan's presence behind her. His face was still damp from the bathroom visit, and the look of fear on his face was evident. She set the glasses of water down to her right, allowing her to open her arms. "Give Tori a squeeze," she instructed with a gentle smile.

After a beat, Nick melted into her arms, doing just as Tori instructed. She began slowly skittering her fingers up and down his spine, willing her touch to enable him to open up. He gently nuzzled into her hair in an attempt to do exactly the opposite.

"It's about the kiss, huh?" she knowingly asked, despite him not wanting to talk. He could only swallow thickly and hum in the affirmative. She continued in the most gentle of voices. "Take it from me…kissing in front of an audience gets easier the more you do it. Just focus on me."

Nick pulled away from Tori in shame, turning his back on her for good measure. "That's the thing…" he finally offered, speaking at the far wall, "I don't know if I want my first kiss to be in front of an audience." She gasped, only to be interrupted when he continued. "That's not the way I envisioned it happening—if it will _ever_ happen—and even then, what if I'm bad?"

"Oh, Nick," she cooed, taking hold of his broad shoulders. "I had a feeling, but I hoped I was wrong…"

"No, you're not," he replied as Tori walked around to face him once more. Nick took a deep breath and hung his head before offering his next words. "Uh, Tori?"

"Yeah?" she sweetly asked, gears beginning to turn in her head.

He audibly gulped before speaking. "Would it be…I dunno…I'd hate to be an imposition on you—"

"Lemme guess—you wanna get in a little extra-curricular practice?" she interrupted. Unseen by the mortified man, her lips began to curve into a sly smile.

Dumbstruck, he could only nod. Fear pooled in his gut, and he readied himself to flee the moment she said no. Despite the fear, he hazarded a glance upwards at what he discovered to be dark red, soft, pouty lips. Her eyes, filled with desire, were the next thing to catch his curious gaze. Not for the first time that evening, she blushed.

Tori brought her right hand up to Nick's chin; her fingers brushed over his five o'clock shadow with a ghost of a touch. His heart pounded in his chest as he felt the sensitive, sweet woman lean ever so slightly toward him, eyes sliding closed and lips pouting as her touch guided him toward ecstasy.

They literally felt a spark as their mouths connected. Both Tori and Nick felt their blood pumping as they let their chaste contact linger…a brief moment turned into nearly thirty seconds of the sweetest contact she had ever felt. As the pair noisily separated to catch their breath, she almost dared to ask how he enjoyed the experience. Her words caught in her throat when he gently palmed the side of her neck, wasting almost no time as he swooped in and pecked her nose.

Nick flashed a guilty smile as he pulled away, quickly taking a drag on one of the cast-aside cups of water. Tori's cheeks flushed in nearly as deep a red as her lips as she mirrored his movement.

"Th—thank you, Tori," he whispered, brushing a stray hair behind her ear. "Whoa, that was…"

She only grinned as he trailed off, her right hand grabbing for his left. He laced his fingers with hers just in time to be dragged to the loveseat, their glasses of water immediately forgotten. She let him take a seat first before tentatively straddling his lap and cradling his face.

"Can I show you a few…uh, _advanced_ techniques?" Tori asked in a more sultry manner than she had ever managed in the past. Nick's answer came as a nod, his breath absolutely taken away.

She wrapped her arms around her man—_her man?_ she mused, not really scared about the idea—and kissed his nose the moment his arms encircled her petite frame. Catching him off-guard, she gently removed his glasses and set them on the end table before beginning her tutoring session.

Between sessions of lip-lock, during which the two friends pressed their foreheads together whilst sharing breaths, Nick couldn't help but ruminate about how lucky he was to know and be cared about by such a thoughtful, wonderful, beautiful woman. He would have thought more on the experience if not for being absolutely shut down by Tori planting kisses down from his left temple, across his cheek, down to his earlobe.

He eagerly reciprocated when she encouraged him to try the same move. Upon feeling her own reaction to his ministrations—as well as seeing his reaction to her soft moan and arching back—she decided he didn't need any more tutoring. Playtime, on the other hand…well, they had all night.

§

"And now, Group A."

Nick was still somewhat nervous as he went through his exchange with 'Laura', his heart pounding in his chest about the public display until he remembered Tori's words to him: '_Just focus on me._' His group mates had been surprised to see the quick turn-around in his reaction to the script; while inquisitive minds itched to know, he wasn't about to kiss—or more than kiss, as it were—and tell.

He took a composing breath before continuing. "In all respects—believe me! Your eyes—your hair are pretty!" He moved his hand from her shoulder to slowly run his fingers through her downy chestnut locks, just as he had done almost every night since his first tutoring session. She gave him a soft smile as he hesitated, willing him to continue.

"Your hands are pretty! Somebody needs to build your confidence up and make you proud instead of shy and turning away and…" he trailed off, his left hand creeping up to cup her cheek.

"Someone ought—ought to—kiss you, Laura!" Nick belted out before diving in for the kill. Tori found herself surprised yet again by her Texan's enthusiasm for the act, but allowed him a few blissful seconds of lip-lock before noisily separating. They smiled knowingly at each other before continuing their lines.

"Damn…they sure got some practice," someone was heard murmuring to another audience member immediately before a raucous round of applause.

They weren't wrong.


End file.
